The weather was looking like it was going to do something at dawn. Got to the summit at 10:00 am at the same time the second snow squall of the day arrived. It cleared up fast enough, though. Gorgeous place. I didn't realize that La Plata was just across the valley--still working on understanding the CO landscape. The ran began around 11:00 am, and didn't stop. I got a ride back to the car from a couple of guys from CO Springs. Very grateful, as I was tired of walking on the road, and not in the mood to get wet in the process. It rained all the way back to Buena Vista, and off an on T-storms all the rest of the day. I really love CO!

Took my girlfriends dog Murphy. This was my 22nd Colorado 14er and his 2nd attempt and he finally got to summit one! Too bad I have had to bandage his paws for a week. More to come for him though! And me of course!!

Great to get back to 14ering with this one, since I had too busy a summer. From the Winfield approach, this was a nice hike on a beautiful day. It was perfect conditions and we seem to be enjoying a little later fall this year in this range.

hiked the West side on the main trail created by CFI, which is great. As of the creation of that trail, Roach's mileage is wrong. I found the same thing last weekend on Handies; the mileage he gives is for a straight shot uphill, not following the switchbacked trail, which is quite pleasant.

We were alone on the top for a while and got down early as it started to storm as we hiked back through the trees. We did the 4wd road approach on mountain bikes and Turbo ran the whole way. He's a super dog! The upper meadows and flowers were awesome at 12k feet.